Page 217 of Caelum

I grabbed a hold of her and tried to tuck her back into my body. The second I did, she calmed down.

Eren noticed it too and, with a frown, stated, “Why is she doing that?”

“How the bloody hell would I know?” I grumbled. “I’m as in the dark as you.” Still, it made me feel good that some part of her was connected to me.

Not having received a mark from her, not having been Chosen, made me feel quite shitty.

The second Reed had told me about his mark, I’d known I needed to keep her away from us and maintain some distance, otherwise it would be impossible for them to ever talk. I’d intimidated her at first in the hopes of turning the faculty’s big nose out of our business, and it had worked when she’d started beating the shit out of me in the gym.

No one, until the final two weeks or so, would have thought there was any love lost between her and my Pack.

“Do you think if we ducked her under cold water in the shower then you let go of her, she’d wake up?”

“Sounds like something fromTakeshi’s Castle,” I mumbled, but the idea held some merit.

“What’s that?”

“A Japanese game show where they did weird shit to the contestants.” I squinted at him. “She might just fall instead.”

“You can catch her,” he retorted. “I’m not saying we need her to break a leg for her to wake up.”

I had to hide a smile at his huffed reply. “No. Sorry. You’re right.”

He nodded firmly then mumbled, “Well, go on then. You’ll have to carry her out or she’ll start thrashing again.”

Getting the feeling he wasn’t happy about that, I had to admit I understood. It was as hard for me not being Chosen as it was for him being Chosen but not Claimed. Most of the Pack were in a similar state, and we really needed Eve to start Claiming us and forcing our souls to settle upon the dominant creature in our beings.

We didn’t have time for her to remain unconscious, not when we had a plan in place I was ninety-five percent certain would work, and when we could purposefully use the time spent traveling toward said plan by helping her with her souls, training her to be more at ease with them and understanding the minutiae that came with each creature.

It was awkward climbing out of bed with her held close to me. Harderstill to haul her upright and into my arms when she was lax and not responding. In the end, Eren had to help. I could maintain her weight with little to no issue but getting her to stay in my grasp without her tumbling out of my arms was nigh impossible.

With great difficulty, we headed for the bathroom.

The yacht was technically a super-yacht, and the fixtures and fittings meant nothing to me, but to the others, I knew they were the height of luxury. Frazer and I had been raised with money, but Reed hadn’t. Nor had most of Eren’s Pack, although I thought Eren came from a monied background, if I were being honest. He hadn’t really been taken aback by the yacht at all, and I’d seen the necklace he’d gifted Eve for her birthday.

As a jeweler’s son, I recognized expensive hardware when I saw it. That gold had been of the highest quality, and deep in the hand, where the All-Seeing Eye was set, there was a diamond with perfect clarity. Flawless—free from inclusions. Clear as glass, with nary a hint of yellow to spoil those pristine facets. All those things added up and meant it cost a sweet bundle of cash.

Pressing her into the wall to hold her up, I set her so that her feet were dangling close to the floor and stared down at her sleeping features as Eren rushed over to the showerhead and turned it on. He came back, and together, we moved under the rainfall and drenched her to the bone. She began to shiver, her body shuddering within seconds. Though I felt the cold, my creature protected me—Eren too. Hers should have protected her, but it didn’t, and when Eren stepped back, I was hesitant to do the same, even though I knew his logic made sense.

I gritted my teeth and let go of her.

The second I did, her eyes flashed open and her knees crumbled.

Snapping forward, I grabbed her and kept her upright. She moaned in my tight hold and her head fell back so the water pounded her square in the face.

Concerned, I shot Eren a look, but his mouth was grim as he stated, “Let her go again. She has to wake up.”

He was right. Sooner rather than later. But I still felt like a complete bastard.

I let her go, and her breath gurgled as she let out a yelp that sounded horrendously like a garbled, “Samuel.” Once more, her knees buckled, but this time, her hands shot out. They slipped against the tile and she couldn’t gain purchase. Leaving it to the last second to catch her, I waited until her body almost connected with the ground before I hauled her against my chest once more.

This time, her eyes were open, and she looked up at me in a daze. Her arms and legs were like overcooked spaghetti, but she was awake.

“You’re mean,” she rasped, and the words sounded dull, like her tongue was too thick to form the words.

“And you stink,” I told her instead, my lips curving in a gentle smile that had her squinting at me. “Five days in bed will do that to you.”

She blinked, her eyes slowly drifting open and closed—but fuck, she was awake and that was something to celebrate. “Five?”

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